weird airplanes

Here you can find a collection of pages where I try to explain the advantages and disadvantages of several configurations. I most cases I give a bit of history too. It is not my goal to give ALL airplanes in that configuration, but .. just enough to make you better understand the qualities and problems of it.

You are always free to give me some extra info about some design. My site has a collection of comments like that. Thanks to many helpful visitors i was able to add several pictures too.

CLICK PICTURES OR LINKS LEFT

SPECIAL: HORTEN FLYING WINGS, always one of my favourite designs. The look very modern, but they are WW2 airplanes. They look like UFO's. So weird. But ...they can not only have great looks, they can also have great performance. So, don't underestimate this type of airplanes. I was super glad to make a special section just about the designs of the Horten brothers. I found some remarkable things about them. It might help you a lot if you want to understand them better.

SPECIAL: FLYING FLEA OF HENRI MIGNET. I truly truly like this airplane. It is in my point of view the ideal airplane for a guy who wants to fly at low costs, because he can build it himself in wood and ...it does not demand great pilot skills to master it in the air. It was designer for the man in the street in the 1930's. Some people might say it has a bad reputation. Not right. It HAD a bad reputation. But from 1936 on the design is really safe to use. I partly restored one. I explain here why it had that bad reputation. I explain why it should be gone now (sadly most people don't know this detail). I show you the different models there were and i guide you a bit to what model that would be perfect to you. And ...did you know that ALL THE MIGNET PLANS ARE NOW FOR FREE! The last member of the family gave the world access to the plans to make sure the work of his family would be kept alive. Thaaaank you, family Mignet.

SPECIAL: PELICAN FLYING WING of J.C. Debreyer. I visited the firm that made this remarkable, veeery small airplane. It is all you need to fly and keep flying at low costs. Minimum design at its best. Sadly it is no longer for sale. But i sure hope that this part of my website will inspire others to do a similar design and give this great design a new life.

ASYMMETRICAL AIRPLANES. Admit ...they look really bizarre. What is the middle of this airplane? Why would you really want to fly something like that? How does it not crash just after take off? All these questions will be answered here. And believe me ...it really has benefits over conventional airplanes. Burt Rutan proofed it!

FLYING WINGS (in general). From childhood on, flying wings amazed me. They were so mystical, so bizarre. But yet, they are rather easy to understand. I try to explain in easy word the different types of flying wings i know or heard about. The most complex type, the Horten design, now has a special tool to help designers getting the airfoils at the right angle. So ...download the file. Design, create, fly the model and see how wonderful those airplanes are in the sky. And you sure will have a eye-catcher!

GIANTS. Some airplanes are big, others are biiiiiiiig. Here is a small overview of several huge airplanes through the history. Some you might know. Others are lesser known. But all are pretty amazing. This is a section with always will need to be updated, because we still keep trying to shift that record of the biggest airplane in the world to a new proportion. Which country will have the largest? It keeps to be a competition.

LOW ASPECT RATIO. Flying pancakes, flying disks, whatever name they received. They look special, they look weird, but ...most people forget that they have a reason for existing. In some ways, they are better than conventional airplanes. I like these a lot! Hmmm ...maybe a project later if possible. My personal UFO, haha, just the idea tickles me. :)

PARASITES. It sounds like something nasty. But it is not. It is a big airplane helping another airplane. The first parasites were in the first chapters of aviation. The system was used for many reasons. And it still is being used today by Virgin Galactic. Go see a short overview of several parasites through history. From bombers with personal fighter squadron aboard, to systems to get into space.

PRONED PILOTS. If you ever thought that a pilot seat is something very easy. Forget it. Wait till you read this section. Pilots laying on their belly. No no, not to fall asleep during flight. There were several reasons why it was done in the past.Proned pilots are not only for hanggliders. They were used in fighters too. In high performance gliders too. I was thinking about using this technique in one of my projects. So i tested it a bit. You can read my findings here too. I was really impressed with what i found. But beware ...it is not as easy as you think to do it right.

TANDEMWINGS. Some people would call them biplanes. But they are not similar in design. From the early chapters of aviation they were there. Henri Mignet and Burt Rutan made them popular. I found several through the history of aviation. I was quite amazed by the reason why the Proteus of Burt Rutan became a tandemwing. The Mignet designs, better known as "pou du ciel" or "Flying Flea" are also part of this section.

TWINS. Two fuselages. No no, not done because the pilots were arguing too much. No, it had several reasons. And some really known airplanes were twins. They had their reasons for existing. A competition in electric flight was won by a twin. I tell you here why it did not surprise me that they won. Might be we will see more twins in the future.

BULM (BASIC ULTRA LIGHT MOTORISED). Here i try to give a small overview of several airplanes which were designed to give you access to low budget flying. Aviation does not have to be a rich mans sport. Aviation is there also for you. You can find many other type of aviation in my GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS. But here you see a bunch of motorised, affordable airplanes.

BULG (BASIC ULTRA LIGHT GLIDERS). During my visit to the hangglider school Wallaby Ranch in Florida, i saw a restoration and test flight of a very very basic glider. It really deserved a extra page in my website. I love minimal design. And ...this one is reaaally minimal. You will see in the page a bunch of pictures with details of the glider. And a video of the short testflight.

FEW OF MY THOUGHTS. Creativity is probably one of my talents. My brain is always generating new things. From low-budget-bombers to a basic glider which you can fully transport on top of your car. Feel free to wander through my (maybe crazy) ideas or thoughts. I need to warn you ...i am not a engineer. Just a very creative mind.